Woodpecker tapestry
The only tapestry William Morris designed entirely himself, with a woodpecker in a fruit tree.
Morris wanted to revive medieval tapestry weaving and began weaving himself on a loom in his bedroom. The tapestry was woven by his apprentices. It is in the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow.
Materials: Wool and silk on cotton warp
Manufacture: Woven on a high-warp loom at Merton Abbey; Morris taught himself tapestry weaving from old manuals.
The woodpecker and the dense acanthus leaves filling the whole surface.
The woven verse in the border about King Picus turned into a bird.